Alistair Lyne - ARTIST.
I have spent the better part of my life - and my entire career - behind the lens of a camera. A high-end video camera for the most part. Traversing Africa and the world after international news, documentary, wildlife and conservation stories for global broadcast media. It is demanding work - and there is often not time to shoot stills on top of everything else. I do love to shoot though - and have always carried stills gear with me. So I try find time in my travels for photography. Some of that work can be seen here.
I filmed in a number of war zones over the years. Conflict became a speciality of mine and kept me busy for over two decades. Dodgy parts of the world; Liberia, Congo, Somalia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, many more. I lived in the Garden Route in South Africa - a lake region - and I would come home from stressful, scary assignments and spend hours photographing birds with a long lens from a Canadian canoe. It was healing for my soul. Some of that work is here too.
By choice my lenses live in the wild these days. Pointed at wildlife and nature. Soul enhancing. And if being charged by elephant and stalked by lion is not exciting enough I always have anti-poaching work to do. My personal travels take me repeatedly to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. All unique and spectacular drive-able countries where one can immerse properly in the wild.
The last years I have spent much time in Botswana, based out of Elephant Sands Lodge in the northeast. There is massive elephant activity here year round, especially during the dry months from October to December. Here are ancient elephant migration crossroads. Zimbabwe lies to the east, with Namibia, Zambia and Angola to the north. Lions are active too, buffalo, leopard, giraffe, plains game, antelope. Some years there are multiple packs of wild dogs - painted wolves. Even hippopotamus show up out of nowhere some dry seasons. So I have a lot of focus on elephant pictures. My favourite wild animal over the years and one that I have spent the most time with by far.
Some photos are shot on film, but for the most part it is all digital. To be able to travel with stills gear - on top of all the regular filming gear - I kept a trim set-up which still works for me to this day. I like to shoot landscapes and nature, but mostly wildlife and birds. So I have one top-end camera body. Robust. Nikon over the years, from film to digital. These days I use a Panasonic Lumix in a cage. Lenses I would have a 500mm, an 80-400mm, and a 20mm prime wide-angle. I would work everything around that set up.
When photographing I try capture moments that are fleeting. Whether it is wildlife behaviour, avian conflict or a natural landscape. I look past the obvious and try get something the eye would usually miss - or glimpse for just a fleeting moment. A moment in time most people would do a double-take on, but the second time they look that moment is gone. Essentially that is what I aim for. Capturing the 'unseen'.
I suspect there is some level of addiction on my part to the art and process of image capture. My lens seems to be an extension of me, of my being. Or maybe I am just cooked! I have much to add to this project. Many more pictures to share. Enjoy!
Alistair Lyne joined Pixels on October 18th, 2012.
